Page 47 of Ruthless Sinner
“And how much might she have already passed along to her boss?” Vincent countered. “We have to punish these things. The feds have to know they can’t fuck with us.”
“Then keep her on our side,” I replied. “If we turn her, that’s just as devastating, isn’t it?”
Toby was already shaking his head. I wasn’t sure why, until Vincent answered for me. After so many years as Vincent’s right-hand man, Toby and my brother could practically speak for one another in times like these.
“They’d never let her live,” Vincent explained. “They’d consider it a betrayal. Same as if we had a rat in our nest. We’d have to take him out, and they’re going to takeherout.”
“So, what, that’s it? We have to take her out first, then?”
I didn’t realize my voice was rising until I heard Kennedy stir on the bed behind me. She started to sit up, wincing, and I went to sit next to her. “Hey, it’s okay baby, take it easy.”
Kennedy looked at me, then at Vincent and Toby, through her one good eye. “You know,” she said to the other two.
“I didn’t tell them,” I interrupted her. “They found out—someone looked in on your talk with your boss at the club.”
Kennedy sighed and pressed the ice to her eye. “I knew he shouldn’t have come. It was reckless and put me in danger. But he’s a micromanager.”
“You know what we have to do,” Vincent said.
Kennedy swallowed hard, then nodded in resignation.
“No,” I snapped. “We don’t have to do anything. This is my girlfriend we’re talking about. I’m not going to let you just, what, fucking kill her?”
“We all know what happens to feds who turn,” Kennedy said softly.
“We can protect you,” I replied. I looked at Vincent, near desperation. “Can’t we? C’mon, who are we if we can’t protect the people we love?”
Kennedy made a small, startled noise in the back of her throat, and I cursed myself for not fucking saying anything sooner. I wasn’t exactly one for romantic speeches but I should’ve said something. I didn’t want the first time she heard me say that I loved her to be angry and in front of others, not even directed at her.
Vincent’s expression didn’t change. “Then what the hell do you suggest? This is a no-win scenario, Marco.”
I stood up again and loomed as only I knew how to. “You try to touch one goddamn hair on her head and I’ll knock you flat, Vincent. Don’t fucking try me.”
Vincent could hold his own in a fight. He was a Russo, of course he could. But he wasn’t the one who spent every day brawling, hauling in men who didn’t want to be hauled anywhere, fighting off rival gangs. He wasn’t the one who trained every day in the school of hard knocks down by the docks, getting his knuckles bloody.
Between the two of us, I was pretty sure I could take him.
Vincent stared me down. He knew I might be able to beat him. Vincent wasn’t one of those idiots who thought nothing could touch him. He knew the risks, and he knew my skill, at least with my fists.
“I can tell you what I know,” Kennedy offered quickly. “The D.A. is planning something. That’s why there’s a lot of pressure on my case. On me. I don’t know what’s happened but our plan has changed and now they want me to get information on you guys quickly so they can move.”
Vincent looked at Toby, who immediately pulled out his phone. I knew what he was doing—letting our lawyer brother Dante know that it was finally time to prove his loyalty. That had been the condition of allowing him to become a lawyer.
You never escaped family.
“I think that there’s more they aren’t telling me,” Kennedy added. “To be fair, I haven’t told them a lot. I didn’t tell them anything about the package plan or how you’re turning two families against each other, Vincent. But they’re keeping me in the dark about something. I don’t know what.”
“You think that’s enough information to be useful?” Vincent asked. “You think that I can trust you when you say you haven’t told them anything?”
I glared at my brother. I never thought that it would come to this. I’d never thought that anyone or anything could make me truly go up against Vincent. But turned out, love was a bitch that way. I’d do anything to protect Kennedy. And I knew she hadn’t given me up. I could feel it in my bones.
“Let me call my boss,” Kennedy said quickly. “Tell him that you suspect me, that Marco beat me up.”
A low growl sounded in my throat. I’d never beat my girlfriend, ever. Even if it was true and she had betrayed me, even if she’d been playing me this whole time. I just couldn’t allow that.
“You can listen in,” Kennedy said. “And based on what my boss says, we can move from there. He might ask me to pressure you for more information before I go, or he might ask me to do something to prove my loyalty to you. But whatever he says, I might be able to get him to let something slip about their bigger plans, about their partnership with the D.A.”
Vincent looked at Kennedy for a long moment. Then he looked at me.
